Mine the Gap

Alexis Barton is a communications consultant and multimedia storyteller. Her style expertise has been featured in Same Chic Different Day and in magazines and television networks. As an award-winning journalist and writer, her work has been featured on NPR, The Moth, Shondaland.com and The Daily Beast, just to name a few.

Alexis breaks down her writing process and talks about the difference in journalistic-style writing and writing in the marketing communications world. We also talk about what you can learn from Don Draper, how to ensure your message is heard and why it's important to align your behavior with your desires.

Connect with Alexis on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter. You can learn more about her at alexisbarton.com.

Justin Robinson, AKA "Chef JRob," is an entrepreneurial chef that offers private dining, meal prep and catering through the Chef JRob Experience. He has participated in Food Network's Iron Chef Showdown, made the top 80 on Season 10 of Fox's MasterChef and is also a member of the Traeger Grills Pro Team. We talk with Justin about his self-taught cooking journey and how his day job informs (and funds!) his side hustle. He tells the story about the first time he cooked for Monica Brown, talks about what it was like competing on MasterChef and shares advice he got from Steve Harvey.

Learn more about the Chef JRob Experience and check out Justin's brand new cutlery line and cookbook, "Just In Time," at chefjrob.com. He is @Chef.JRob on Instagram.

Additional content:

• Check out "Good to Great" at Jim Collins' website or on Amazon.

Will Siskey, a serial entrepreneur, tells us his story of starting Sparrow Health & Performance right after graduating college and what it was like learning to work and being your own boss at the same time. We also talk about the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are better at your craft than you, a lesson Will learned in high school while playing tennis, and how being your best self – both as a professional and a person – starts with you. He also gives us the down-low on another of his ventures, OptiO2 Labs, and how he's helping athletes train smarter, recover faster and perform better.

Learn more about Sparrow on the web, Facebook or Instagram and get on the mailing list for OptiO2 Labs' launch at optio2labs.com or connect with them on Instagram. You can follow Will on Instagram, @willsiskey, and email him at [email protected].

Additional Content:

• Watch Will's story of overcoming alopecia and starting Sparrow Clinic.
• Learn more about "Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard" at the Heath Brothers' website.

Jimmy Truong is the founder of Epilogue Roasters, a coffee roasting company focused on one simple thing: sourcing and roasting the best coffees available and sharing them with the friends made along the way. Although he originally studied to be an art teacher, Jimmy dropped out of college when he realized his true passion was hospitality. We talk about why we need to de-stigmatize working in the restaurant industry, the importance of human connection and how to find creativity even in monotony. Plus, Jimmy tells us what it's like competing in the U.S. Coffee Championships and gives us the drop on some exciting news!

Follow @jimmy.truong and @epilogueroasters on Instagram. You can learn more about Epilogue and buy coffee (shipping nationwide!) at epilogueroasters.com.

Additional content:

• Check out the book Jordan references, Garden City, here.
• Read Together by Vivek Murthy.
• Learn more about Danny Meyer's concept of Enlightened Hospitality or purchase Setting the Table on Amazon.

Adelaide Matte is the founder and CEO of Adelaide Matte Designs (AMD). She's a bold, fun and creative force to be reckoned with that has worked with a diverse portfolio of businesses on everything from branding and graphic design to events and content promotion. She tells us her story of applying to over 65 jobs her senior year of college and gets real about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and the importance of mental health and work-life balance. Plus, Adelaide shares her philosophy on brand building with us and how events can be a powerful marketing tool.

Follow Adelaide's personal page, @adelaidethecreator, or her company, @amdbirmingham, on Instagram.

Additional content:

• Find out if you're synesthetic here with this synesthesia test.
• Learn more about Contagious by Jonah Berger on his website or buy it on Amazon.
• Read the HBR research on positive work cultures and Ready Nation report on childcare and the workforce.

Grace Bowes is an associate marketing manager on ESPN's Sports Marketing and Brand Strategy team. She shares about her time working for the Worldwide Leader in Sports, including all about her efforts on a recent WNBA marketing campaign that resulted in her becoming BFFs with the FedEx Guy. In addition to her day job, Grace is also a market mentor at Monat, a multi-level marketing company. We dive headfirst into the controversy of MLMs and "pyramid schemes", talk about mindset and how to create the life you want, even in your 20s.

You can find Grace on Instagram, @gracebowes.

Additional Content:

• Read the GQ Article Jordan references that gives the download on the #OrangeHoodie.
• See Michael Scott get caught up in a pyramid scheme in this clip from The Office.

Buddy Overstreet is a branding consultant who works with established sports brands and startups. A leading creative in the sports world, Buddy has worked for some of college athletics' biggest brands, including Notre Dame Football, Florida Football and Duke Basketball. The former Alabama Athletics creative director shares how he got into the industry, where he goes for inspiration and how he walks the tightrope of control and trust during the creative process.

Today, Buddy is the creative director at Knight Eady, a creative agency driven by a belief in sports. You can connect with Buddy on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Visit KnightEady.com to learn more about Buddy's agency and their podcast, We Believe in Sports. Listen and subscribe here, there or wherever you get your podcasts.

Micah Green-Holloway is a brand advertising manager at Truist (formerly BB&T and SunTrust banks), but life wasn't always so simple. He tells us his story of overcoming a difficult upbringing prior to achieving immense success in high school and college. We talk with Micah about the role you play in your company's culture, how to increase your value as an employee and why you should give back in whatever way you can. Micah also dishes the details on developing the Truist brand and how that's energized his team and work.

You can find Micah on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Molly McCoy is an interior designer and WorkLife Center sales representative at Steelcase. As a leading architecture, furniture and technology company, Molly and her teammates solve workplace issues and create meaningful engagement in physical space through user-centered design. We talk about what that sentence actually means and how she wears different hats as both a designer and a salesperson, all while credentialing herself as an expert very early in her career.

Connect with Molly on LinkedIn and find her repping her southern roots on Instagram, @itsmollsyall.

Savannah Clay, RN is studying to be a nurse practitioner; Cullen Johnson is an engineer, musician and photographer. Together, the couple started a YouTube channel while undergrads at the University of Tennessee. They share what it looks like to create and collaborate as a couple, but also how to compartmentalize creativity when it's needed. We also discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and the importance of showing up and having conversations even when they're difficult, and recognizing the gaps in our society that we need to work through, together.

Follow Savannah and Cullen on Instagram and check out @CullenaryArts or Cullen & Savannah for more content.

Cullen's recommended resources for supporting Black creatives:

• Matthew A. Cherry
• Netflix Black Lives Matter Recommendations
• When They See Us
• 13th